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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
01/09/09

In reply to Thinspiration
I was just checking out a photographer's retouching work on some pictures of a fairly famous actress. Believe me, the before and afters give any 'thinspiration' Photoshopper a run for their money. She looked like a fucking alien.
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veronykah
01/09/09

In reply to Thinspiration
Is it bad that these images don't look that different than high fashion models to me?

The manipulated bodies could pass for high fashion model in my book.

The comments about the boobs made me remember something that made me happy, considering I live in LA.

I was watching Chelsea Handler the other night and she had Dr. 90210 on, they were talking about fake boobs and he pretty much said if a girl has virtually no fat, its virtually impossible for her to have big boobs as well. I mean I kind of figured that one out on my own but its nice to hear a plastic surgeon say "99.9% of women in LA that are super thin with boobs have fakies"
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skahammer
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
Suppose I took the nonjudgmental position on people who want to do this to their bodies -- where would that leave me?

I mean, I try not to judge people for not conforming to my body-image ideals: overweight, aggressively pierced, surgically enhanced, freakishly overmuscled (I'm a guy, this last is actually the most common body modification in my circle), whatever, I don't judge.

And as long as it's a result of the person's individual will, I tend to want to put underweightness in the same category. It's the other person's body, not mine -- and god knows mine's not perfect. If that's how people want to live their lives, if that's how they feel most like themselves, I'd feel funny expressing a contrary opinion about it. I don't know what it's like inside their skin. Does that seem weird?
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Edna Sednitzer
01/09/09

@skahammer: I think most of us draw the line at unhealthy body modifications. These eating disorders, to me, don't look different than seeing someone slowly commiting suicide (because that's what happens down the road when you suffer from anorexia and you don't get help in time, you die of it).

on the other hand, the pierced person will not die out of their modification, neither will an overly muscled person (assuming, of course, steroids are not involved and the person is doing it the natural way).

Would you think the same way (i.e. it's their body to do as they please) if you knew someone was taking a drop of arsenic every day? they are not going to die within 24 hours, but they are certainly going to be dead unless they discontinue the arsenic intake.
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skahammer
01/09/09

@Edna Sednitzer: Would you think the same way (i.e. it's their body to do as they please) if you knew someone was taking a drop of arsenic every day?

Sure -- that person's body is still his/her body, not mine. That's a pretty tough equation to change.

An example that might hit closer to home are people who drink or drug a lot. I may not want to be around them, and I may even think in my own mind that they're destroying their brains or livers or whatever. But still I accept that they're autonomous adults (if in fact they are), and what they put in their bodies is their business, not mine. I'll help them change their behavior if they ask, and I'll actively try to keep them from hurting other people if it comes to that -- but otherwise I feel like the right thing is keeping my opinions to myself.

I'm not even sure where this idea of mine comes from -- I figured it was just part of being an adult.
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vwlphb
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
'Ivonne Thein' sounds kinda like 'I vont thin' to me.
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CherriSpryte
01/08/09

@vwlphb: Me too!
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morninggloria
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
I was very thin in early high school and I wanted so badly to gain weight, but I couldn't. I would look at pictures of girls with normal weight bodies for inspiration and just wish, wish, wish that I could shop in the junior's department instead of wearing a kids' size 12 long jeans.

Then senior year happened, and the tits arrived.

Anyway, it wasn't an eating disorder, but it was an intense feeling of wishing to manipulate my body into something that looked different.
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devilchyld22
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
My fiances response when seeing the pictures "Good god that girl is skinny"

He's not exactly the most PC of people.

But, I agree with a lot of you guys I don't understand how this isn't anything other than triggering. I'm not exactly sure how it's helping the cause at all.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
Is her last name pronounced 'thin'? Just curious...
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sequined
01/09/09

@Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith: I suspect, if she's German, it's more like "tine," but I'm not sure.
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Beets.Go.On is the Fat Yogini
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
uh, how is this "taking on" anorexia? This is going to be inspiration for sick young women. What a waste. I can't believe this crap is considered "art."
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BluebellaElliot
01/08/09

@Beets.Go.On: Pretty much my thoughts exactly.
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Dauphine
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
Oh, hay there triggering image.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
01/08/09

@Dauphine: Do you reckon? It looks pretty much like a Vogue photoshoot; I didn't realise it was digitally altered.
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theysaidwhat
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
A big problem I have with this concept is that when Thien digitally altered the bodies, she left the glowing skin and in most cases the luscious locks of a model. Thus perpetuating the misconception that you can be skeletally thin and healthy and even beautiful.

It would have served her purpose better in some ways to have shown the degradation of skin and hair and general health suffered by such women and still done the photos in fashion poses.
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Miss Smith Drank Your Vodka
01/08/09

@theysaidwhat: Hmmmm, interesting point.
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Lymed
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
I don't think she meant for these pictures to change people who are anorexic. By using high fashion poses, I think she meant to have the general public recognize the message that fashion magazines send.
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funnyface
01/08/09

@Lymed: Yeah, that's what I think too. The thing that's most shocking here is how this horrifyingly thin image is immediately recognizable to the non-disordered as a visage of extreme unhealthiness, and yet many of us do not recognize the same horror in everyday fashion magazines.
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Lymed
01/08/09

@funnyface: I've been recognizing it more and more in fashion. But perhaps it is because I've been losing weight due to health issues and am now at an unhealthy weight. Of course, the odd thing is, I recognize I'm too thin in pictures, but I don't see how thin I am in the mirror.
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Notes from the underwhelmed
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
Oh, god... I looked at the rest of the pictures- they actually made my bones hurt. Ow.
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Notes from the underwhelmed
01/08/09

@Notes from the underwhelmed: And made me feel super hungry. I am totally ordering a pizza now.
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bellebleu
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
My first thought was "i wish i was that thin!" which just goes to show, eating disorders haunt you forever!
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Miss Scarlett
01/08/09

@bellebleu: I don't have an eating disorder and I thought that too.
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Raspberry Swirly
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
I'm a little confused. Wouldn't the girls surfing these sites pretty much love what she's done?
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peperony and chease
01/08/09

In reply to Thinspiration
And the ana community is going to love the shit out of these images. She couldn't have intuited this by spending time on pro-ana websites? Even posting that photo here may be triggering. It is to me, esp. in early January as so many women's new year's resolutions may be weight-related.
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JerseyGrrrl
01/08/09

@peperony and chease: Exactly right once again! Saying these are "art" implies they might be beautiful, which is exactly what's so harmful.
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funnyface
01/08/09

@JerseyGrrrl: I spent the past week looking at applications for art faculty positions. After seeing all their images, I am not sure the word "beautiful" has anything to do with art anymore.
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peperony and chease
01/08/09

@JerseyGrrrl: The last thing we need is more alteration of women's bodies to look this way. And in such a high fashion way, as you add. Don't we get enough of this in the magazines? The people who look at these images with the disgust she likely intends are not the people with the issue she's "taking on." It's misguided.
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JerseyGrrrl
01/08/09

@funnyface: No it's true. We have mostly got away from that. But I worry to the impressional female viewer, the implication is that this is the ideal, the beautiful, since it is shot in such an ethereal way. It seems so rare that less than "perfect" women find themselves in front of the lens, unless the show is particularly subversive and that is the point. Though I'm not art expert, and I'm commenting on what limited galleries I've been to. I think you would have a better scope from which to comment so take this for what it is! :)

**Good luck on your job hunt!!
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funnyface
01/08/09

@JerseyGrrrl: Oh, I found a job-- I'm an admin in a studio art dept at a college. I'm just going through the apps for the 2 faculty positions we have open. But thank you so much for the well wishes! It's my first week on the job!
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